Balmoral Students Clean-up Bridgman Park

September 25, 2009

One Canadian park is a lot cleaner thanks to thirty enthusiastic Grade 8, 9 and 10 students from Balmoral Jr. Secondary. On September 23, 2009, the students, in conjunction with the TD Great Canadian Clean-up, scoured Bridgman Park in an effort to collect and record the litter they found.

The Great Canadian Clean-up originated with a small group of people at the Vancouver Aquarium and has quickly grown into a national clean-up and garbage data collection event.

Armed with plastic gloves, bags and clipboards for tallying what they found, students collected approximately 12 garbage bags of litter including paper, plastic, food wrappers, dog poop, household waste and cans.  The most collected item was cigarette fillers (which don’t breakdown naturally in the environment) but students also found chairs, a plastic table, a fire extinguisher, and car parts.

The experience was a real eye-opener for participants. "People throw some crazy stuff in the water!" said one student, while others observed: "You'll never know what's happening in the environment unless you go out there and experience it."